2. Torturing Bulls
During a festival to honor St. John in Coria, Spain, the crowd tortures
and kills a bull in a rite known as “Toros de Coria.” Readers of my
Christianity and Violence essay series will likely agree that this
activity constitutes scapegoating.

This is another terrible example of the church failing to speak
against, and in some locations sponsoring, animal torture. In the US,
such collective violence by our churches against animals occurs, but it
tends to be less transparent. For example, pig roasts celebrate the
killing and consumption of an animal. Less obvious, but in my opinion
related, are other church functions that feature meat-eating. Other
examples of church-sponsored cruelty and callousness abound and include
hunting on church property and preachers making light of our culture’s
ruthless exploitation of animals in agriculture, experimentation,
entertainment, etc.

The quest for truth should not be a quest for certainty. Recognizing
the limits of our knowledge is crucial for gaining understanding about
ourselves, our communities, and the nature of God, because uncertainty
renders people receptive to new ideas. We need new ideas and fresh
perspectives, because each of us has a very limited view of the world.
Further, our unconscious needs and fears can cloud our views. Much
greater potential for personal and intellectual growth comes from
sharing experiences and ideas with each other. This sharing is far more
valuable and productive if we have covenantal relationships with each
other.

The covenants, which typically feature promises of mutual respect and
commitments to truth, are often implicit rather than explicit. The
scientific community, at least in theory, illustrates such covenantal
relationships. Scientists expect each other to truthfully report their
data, to respectfully consider novel theories, and to favor theories on
their merit, not on the authority of those who back the theories. In
practice, of course, scientific enterprises are human activities that
are influenced by human desires, including desires for self-esteem.
However, scientists understand that reverence for truth should guide
their research, reporting, and deliberations, even if they sometimes
fall short of this ideal.

Similarly, covenantal relationships among people of faith are crucial
to the quest to understand God’s will and to incorporate this
understanding into our daily lives. As Jesus said, “For where two or
three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew
18:20). If, as Christian faith teaches, God is about love, then faith
communities must be grounded in love in order to gain a greater
understanding of God’s love.

Consequently, these communities cannot originate from the
scapegoating process, because scapegoating involves violence and
injustice. Signs that communities have been bound by scapegoating, and
not by their love of God, include harsh, merciless, punitive laws that
they attribute to God, an intolerance of “heretical” points-of-view, a
conviction that God loves members of the community more than the rest of
God’s Creation, and a belief that God hates the same people that
community members hate. In contrast, communities guided by the faith of
Christ are dedicated to love, respect, compassion, and truth. Therefore,
Christianity shows how dedication to truth, love, and community
reinforce each other.

James articulated this well: “But the wisdom from above is first
pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good
fruits, without uncertainty or insecurity. And the harvest of
righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (3:17-18). This
is God’s wisdom, and it is the wisdom which we should seek. Because
humans are fallible, I am convinced that certainty reflects only a state
of mind – not a state of knowledge.